Putin has no doubts China will be the world’s largest economy in coming years

China’s economy will become the largest in the world in coming years, while trade between Russia and China will reach the planned level of $100 billion, Russian President Vladimir Putin told reporters on the sidelines of the APEC summit on Saturday, TASS reported.

STEPANAKERT, NOVEMBER 14, ARTSAKHPRESS:Russia’s head of state said that he had held talks with China’s President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the summit. The Chinese counterpart informed Putin of the outcomes of the recent Chinese Communist Party Congress and the country’s plans for the future.

"It is of great significance as China is our largest trade and economic partner and we need to realize how and where this big economy is moving to, since without any doubt, it will be the world’s largest economy in coming years," Putin said.

"We will definitely reach the level we have been planning if we keep up with the tempo achieved up to date. We will definitely reach the level of $100 billion in a span of a few years," Putin said. "The scale of our partnership is huge, as [China] is our largest partner in the economy and trade at the level of over $60 billion after the drop."

Putin has regular meetings with China’s President Xi Jinping, he said.

"We have ambitious plans in energy and nuclear energy," he said noting that both countries were looking to space exploration, in particular in far-out space, and to aviation and to helicopter building.

Putin pointed out that Russia’s interaction with China needed correction in light of plans to develop the Eurasian Economic Union and to align them with China’s One Belt, One Road idea.